UNESCO

Boastful of its 2000 years of history, the European capital and France's seventh-largest city, located at a crossroads between the Latin and Germanic cultures, Strasbourg has a unique architectural heritage: the entire city centre has been listed as UNESCO World Heritage since 1988.

2000 years of history…

This pretty town skilfully combines tradition with modernity and can be explored on foot, by riverboat, by mini-train, by tram... and even by bicycle (Strasbourg and its surroundings have a more than 500 km network of cycle trails: the largest in all of France!).

Since the implementation of the high speed railway line (the TGV Est Européen), Strasbourg is just 1 hour 50 minutes from Paris.

"Strasbourg - Grande Ile", inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage list…

In 1988, "Strasbourg - Grande-Ile" was inscribed on UNESCO’s prestigious World Heritage List. This list gathers cultural and natural sites for their outstanding value, and a historical heritage.

Enclosed by the boundary of the Ill River and the Canal du Faux-Rempart, the “Grande Ile” island is connected by 21 bridges and footbridges to the rest of the city, of which it comprises the historic core. It features a remarkably high-quality collection of monuments.The Cathedral's single spire towers over the city's steep roofs, with their quaint dormer windows on several levels. The churches of St. Thomas, St. Pierre-le-Vieux, St. Pierre-le-Jeune and St. Etienne, the buildings of the Oeuvre Notre-Dame, the former Grande Boucherie (slaughterhouse), the “Neubau” (the current Chamber of Commerce and Industry), the Palais Rohan and the Aubette: rather than being isolated monuments, these buildings all fit together as pieces of a very intricate urban fabric. The area, which was settled as far back as Roman times, offers heritage that embodies the city's evolution from the Middle Ages to the present day.

Strasbourg is the first French city whose inscription concerns not a single monument, but an entire historic urban centre.

On 9 July 2017 in Cracow, UNESCO declared the Neustadt district of Strasbourg a World Heritage Site!

This is an incredible recognition of the rich and diverse heritage of Strasbourg, and particularly of this district, built from nothing between 1871 and 1914 after the Prussian annexation. This new construction tripled the city’s surface area and became the gold standard of the Reichsland in Alsace-Lorraine.

Neustadt joins the Grande Ile, which was declared a World Heritage Site in 1988. This decision ensures the preservation of the historical and architectural continuity that ties together Strasbourg of the Middle Ages, of the Renaissance, of the 18th century, and the Imperial German “new town”, characterised by its unity and exceptional architecture and urbanism imbued with the spirit of the countryside.

It also reinforces the marriage of the city’s French and German identities, which makes Strasbourg the natural birthplace of tomorrow’s Europe.

What are the limits of the classification?

Place de la République, Université, Avenue de la Liberté, Avenue des Vosges, Avenue d'Alsace, Avenue de la Forêt-Noire… as well as the quays surrounding the Grande Ile.